The present invention relates generally to drilling and skiving tools and more particularly to a combination drilling and skiving tool to be used in manufacturing process for electronic printed circuit boards and the like. The Government has rights in this invention pursuant to contract No. DE-AC04-76DP00613 between the U.S. Department of Energy and Allied-Signal Inc.
It is known in the electronics industry to use generally flat flexible cables and printed circuits made of metal foil conductors laminated between thin sheets of plastic insulating film. Generally, the circuit pattern of an etched metal foil is embedded into plastic laminates for chemical protection and electrical insulation. However, these embedded conductors must be exposed for subsequent electrical connections by, for example, soldering. In order to accomplish this, the dielectric over-layers must be removed at the desired locations in order to make the necessary electrical connections.
Conventionally, a known procedure called "skiving" is used in order to remove the over-layer, and expose and burnish the connection site without excessively removing the metallic land. In the accepted manufacturing procedure, a second and separate operation is then performed to drill a hole about the center of the skived area, where a connection wire or the like is inserted and soldered from the skived side. Presently, these two procedures, i.e., skiving and drilling, are performed by two separate tools and, therefore, require additional time and effort on the part of the operator, and add additional handling and manufacturing costs associated with two different tools for carrying out these operations. Examples of some of the tools used in this and related industries are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,041,675; 2,345,403; 2,767,412; 2,797,421; 2,948,000; 3,233,260; 3,877,099; and 3,995,969.
There is, however, a need for a single tool which performs the skiving as well as the drilling operation.